Fandom Figures of Light Lingering in Darkness (Closed to DancingMoons and Lucyfer)

[ShiroKuma]

Corellia was a grim and dull place. According to legend, it had once been beautiful, but after industrialization everything had changed. Soon all the green was replaced with metal and grey. The beautiful blue sky turned to ash. Smog filled the streets and the lungs of the people. Ships were built in Corellia long before Acacia was born as a result, all she knew was metal and dust. She had seen pictures of trees and other foliage in books when she was younger. She often dreamed about travelling through the galaxy to see what they looked like, but when her father was injured and no longer able to work, she had to give up that dream. She turned to a life of crime so her family could survive. She started out stealing small things from the elite, but it wasn't enough to sustain three people. She soon began stealing from the factories. She primarily stole credit chips from the engineers, but on occasion she would steal an important part to a ship just to send the First Order a proverbial middle finger. They had come in and essentially taken over Corellia a few years back and the living conditions for the poor deteriorated even further. They didn't care about any living being so long as they got their precious ships.
The sound of boots hitting metal grate rang out as Acacia fled the factory she had just been in. She ducked and dodged around corners, believing that her methods prevented her from being seen. She had been attempting to score some credit chips, but the First Order had been adding alarms that were triggered by a change in the temperature of the room. Unfortunately, she had failed to notice the alarm and set it off. Thankfully, she was able to make it out with one chip. It didn't look like the average yellow and grey chip, but she simply assumed the black coloring was a sign that the credit chips were going through a much needed update. About an hour after she tripped the alarm, Acacia decided the coast was clear and began to make her way home.
The storm trooper presence was unusually strong today so, she had to remain hidden in the shadows and as silent as possible. Stealth was one of the things she was quite good at. All the years of sneaking around had given her the ability to go nearly anywhere without being noticed. As she approached her home she noticed the sea of soldiers getting thicker. Something is not right...
Acacia quickened her pace in an attempt to get home quicker. With each step she felt her heart sink more and more. As she finally reached her home, she saw a soldier that stood taller than the rest clad in metallic armor. Despite the thickness of the smog, the sun still managed to shine through and shimmer off of the armor....Phasma, what is she doing here?
Before Acacia had a chance to figure anything out, her eyes locked onto two figures who were on their knees. A gasp caught in her throat when she came to realize that the people were her parents and they had Phasma's blaster pointed directly at them.
" Tell me, where is the Data Chip?" Phasma's voice was deep and intimidating despite her having a helmet on. Just hearing it sent shivers down Acacia's spine.
"We already told you, we don't know what you are talking about!" her mother's shrill voice range through the air. Generally, Acacia was annoyed when that noise came out of her mother, but this time it sent a sense of panic through her.
"An engineer at one of my facilities claims that the person who stole the data card lives here. If you do not produce the card, I will execute you and we will tear every inch of your house apart. When we are done with that, we will find your daughter and we will kill her as well."
Acacia's heart skipped several beats. She began to steady herself to try and run at Phasma, but her father caught her gaze. He was staring directly at her and shook his head. Phasma took that as her answer. Suddenly the sound of two shots rang through the air and her parents bodies toppled to the ground. She tried to let out a scream, but nothing would come. Tears ran down her cheeks as she watched the troopers enter her home, destroying it. After a moment, she began to steady herself to attempt a run at Phasma, but something stopped her.

Kylo Ren sulked through the halls of his ship searching for one of the Huxes. He had been bed ridden for months after that girl had wounded him. His usually powerful walk was hindered by a slight limp and he could often be seen holding his waist underneath his heavy black cloak. The longer he walked, the more intense his pain became, but he couldn't let on that it was bothering him. If he did, he could easily find himself trapped in the sick ward again under the orders of Snoke. This was not something he wanted. People were already questioning his ability to lead due to being beaten so easily, but thankfully, killing his own father did give him a little of his credibility back. A disgruntled huff escaped his lips after he burst into a third empty room. The corridors of the ship were long and vast. He had no idea which room the Hux twins were having their meeting in. All he knew was that they had consciously decided to leave him out. Generally, he wouldn't be bothered by this, but he had recently learned that both of the twins had decided to ignore the Jedi problem. This was entirely unacceptable.
Eventually, Kylo found himself outside a room that had voices creeping through the doors. The most prominent voice was that of Armitage Hux. Almost instantly, Kylo became more enraged. Even the voice of that weasel was enough to send him into a fit. While he and Reveille don't exactly get along, Kylo could at least stand her. She seemed to have been the more intelligent of the two twins. After a moment, Kylo straightened himself and dropped his hand to the side. He focused his energy on the door, causing it to burst open with a great amount of force. The door slammed against the walls on the other side creating an ear splitting ring. Unphased, Kylo sauntered into the room locking his nearly black eyes with the blue eyes of Reville.
"I told you both that I wanted to be caught on the current...situation. Why have you decided to meet without me?"
As always, Kylo had a low growl when speaking he slid his gaze to Armitage and tilted his head slightly while walking toward them. In his mind, he looked absolutely menacing and this would be exactly what would get them to bend to his will. Before either of them had a chance to answer, he spoke again "I also want to know who decided it would be wise to ignore the pressing Jedi issue. Luke Skywalker and Rey are still running free. Either of them could easily destroy everything we have worked for if they are not taken care of"
Kylo continued walkin until he was a mere inch or so away from Armitage glaring down at the pitiful excuse of a man. He then slowly looked to Reville and moved to her. Using the exact same tactic he had just used on her brother "Can you provide me with an answer, girl?"​

 

[Lucyfer]

Starkiller had been destroyed a few months back. The Resistance thought that would slow down the First Order – even Poe Dameron, Commander of Black Squadron and one of the heroes of that battle, thought so. What they hadn’t realized was that Starkiller was not, in fact, that huge a deal to one person in particular: Admiral Reveille Hux.

She’d been almost forgotten compared to the triumvirate of power known as Armitage Hux, Captain Phasma, and Kylo Ren – not to mention Supreme Leader Snoke. Then, Starkiller fell, and they were reminded that the First Order still had way more ships than they did.

And way more ships now than the New Republic had, thanks to the destruction of the Hosnian System. The First Order had swept up half the Core worlds, and were pushing towards Coruscant, the one place many of those supporters of the New Republic had banded together at. So far, Coruscant stood – but it wouldn’t be long.

Then it would be Chandrila, and the Resistance, that fell.

So needless to say, when rumor had it that Phasma was on Corellia, Poe volunteered to check out what was going on, even if he was now the most well-known face to the First Order. He was also the one who had the best odds of escaping, and he wasn’t about to endanger Finn who had just recovered from his fight with Kylo Ren.

Poe Dameron hid his X-Wing in the outskirts of Corellia, before moving by foot, putting on a mask to cover his face – and, admittedly, help him breathe in clean air. The pollution of Corellia was sickening, increased thanks to the First Order. He moved through it though, on towards a factory he knew was making things for the First Order. Mostly TIEs, but rumor had it, the Admiral might have finally thought to trust the Corellian factory with some new designs.

He was going to need one hell of a bath after this, though. “Yuck,” he couldn’t help but complain as he pulled his fingers through his dark hair. It came away oily. ‘Good thing I left beebee at the X-Wing.’ Otherwise his little droid would need a good scrubbing, too.

Yet, he detoured, upon hearing and seeing the increased Stormtrooper presence a bit aways from the factory, in the rundown neighborhood not far. ‘Wonder what’s going on here?’ It didn’t take long to get an answer.

“…is the data chip?”

That was a voice Poe would recognize anywhere, and he barely stopped himself in time before he walked right out into that mess. He managed instead to cling to a nearby building and look out to see Phasma, and two others on their knees. Around them was a mess of Stormtroopers.

One fist clenched, and Poe tried to remind himself he was there on a mission, but his hand still inched closer to the blaster at his hip. His mind went back to Jakku, and the massacre.

His hand eventually wrapped around the cool metal, but just as he thought to raise it, he saw the man’s head turn. Poe’s own gaze followed, and his heart wrenched in his chest as he saw another observer, a woman – the one who must have been the daughter that Phasma mentioned – watching. Of course, that’s not what Chromedome noticed, she just saw the shake of his head – and shots were fired.

Poe winced and looked away. He forced a deep, shaky breath, and listened to the steps of the Troopers as they started to enter the house. He opened his brown eyes and looked to the Troopers, before his eyes sought the woman again. She looked ridden by shock, and pain – but Poe knew that wouldn’t last.

He made the decision then to abandon his mission – at least for the moment – and get her out of there. Phasma would make good on her threat. Maybe that data chip was important, but maybe Phasma wouldn’t find it, either. He would mention it to Leia, but right now, this life was more important, and he moved back away, only to take some cuts through the alleys of surrounding houses.

He was relieved to find her still there – but just as he felt that, she started forward. ‘Shit!’ He jolted forward quicker than he would have liked, and moved to wrap a hand around her wrist to pull her back, and moved his other hand to clasp around her mouth, thinking she might scream to be pulled back like that, but he’d definitely try to get her back against his chest so he could better secure her if she tried to struggle.

He wouldn’t blame her, after what she just saw. “Hey, hey, hey, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m with the Resistance.”

For someone who just saw Phasma shoot down her parents, he could only hope that sounded good.

~***~

It had been a good day – up until the report came from Corellia, and Armitage Hux had to dispatch a contingency of Stormtroopers with Phasma down to the planet. At that point, Reveille Hux had called the meeting, and Armitage easily dismissed Kylo Ren’s desire for one. They could catch the petulant child up later.

Some matters were more important, like becoming aware of all that was on the data chip, and how best to work around the possibility that it was already compromised. “Thankfully, none of our plans on stealth crafts have been stolen, but the Black Sabers have been, which brings me to the next point—”

There was a slam of a door. Not just a door opening and slamming against a wall, but a door literally flying off the hinges and striking a wall. Armitage bristled, though Reveille’s gaze moved from the entrance, to where the crumbled door now lay.

It had cut between her and Armitage in its flight, far too close for comfort, but Reveille did not tense quite like her brother did. Everyone else in the room looked about to jump up and run as the cause of the problem stalked into the room – the infamous Commander Kylo Ren.

General Hux tilted his head up, his glare fully in place as Kylo came forward with his demands. Reveille observed the tell-tale twitch of her brother’s jaw as Kylo demanded information about the Jedi decision, not giving them room to answer his first queries, but pressing on while centering himself in the room, soon chest-to-chest with her brother.

Yet, his attention snapped away, and he moved by Armitage as if he were nothing.

Reveille held her stance calmly, and while her posture was just as immaculate as her brother’s, it was not so tense. She didn’t so much as flinch under Kylo’s tone, nor his presence.

The General spoke first, “Commander Ren, you’re stepping out of line again. Do I need to report to the Supreme Leader that you’re letting your personal vendettas blind you?”

Armitage was always running to Snoke. It was definitely behavior that Reveille didn’t agree with. The more they kept Snoke out of things, the better. Involving Snoke only lessened their sway in the First Order and showed they couldn’t keep control of the situation. “There’s no need of that, General.” She could practically feel the heat of Armitage’s glare as she dismissed his idea. “Commander Ren, let’s adjourn to another space now that this one is no longer private. The General and I can catch you up on the situation – Colonel Garmuth, we’ll put this meeting on a hold for now. I’ll send you a message when we’re prepared to continue.”

The Colonel shot a look to General Hux, who just gave a quick nod. Dismissed. This clearly wasn’t continuing with Kylo crashing the party.

With the door blown off of the room, though, Reveille had little intention of continuing any meeting. Resistance spies were still a thing, and as the others packed up their things hastily to get out of there and hopefully avoid catching Kylo’s wrath, she gestured calmly towards the door entrance he’d blown up, “Shall we, Commander?” Tempting as it was to degrade him, she would not. She was hardly pleased with his insults, but it was far easier to just deal with them and continue on. If she rose to every antagonism like her brother, she’d never get anywhere.

 

[ShiroKuma]

Acaia had nearly made her way out of the shadows when someone grabbed her from behind. Her brown eyes grew wide and a scream nearly escaped her lips, but it was blocked by a firm hand. She attempted to struggle for a moment, but she was pulled into the person's firm chest and their hold over her was simply too strong. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks leaving a streak of cleanliness behind. I guess this is it...I am going to die too.

She truly believed that a storm trooper had grabbed, but when she heard her capture mention the resistance, her body relax against them. Her breathing and body were still shaking rather violently, but it was an improvement from the tenseness. After a few moments, she turned her head slightly to try and see who was holding her. Unfortunately, she was unable to tell who it was due to a thick black breathing mask.

After a few moments, Acacia shook her head. She had hoped if she shook hard enough that his hand would fall. She whispered just loud enough for him to hear. He voice shook with each word. Partially out of fear, but mainly due to having just witnessed the death of her parents. "They will find us soon. Where can we go to be safe? They own this entire planet"

She was truly at a loss. Her entire world was just destroyed.

​

Kylo was ready to rip Armitage a new one, but he was temporarily distracted by Reveille. Kylo let out a slow soft breath in order to attempt to calm his rage. Perhaps it would work better to speak to her as a equal..for now. He followed behind her clunking his heels against the ground. Much to Kylo's pleasure, each step echoed thunderously throughout the halls. When they reached the new room, he waltzed in without allowing in before him.

He turned to watch the two red head enter the room behind him. He then focused on the door causing to slam close. He walked to the back of the room and stared rather dramatically out the window. He ran a hand through his slick black hair and then slowly turned back to the twins. Hoping his intimidation game was working. "I want to know everything that has happened while I was....out"

It was at that moment that he became aware of the stabbing pain in his side once more. He scrunched his scarred face in pain for a split second, but quickly relaxed. Deep down, he hoped that it simply looked as though he was disgusted. Normally, he would never sit down. He felt that it made him look weak and inferior, but he could not keep a straight face while standing. He lowered his body slowly into the chair slumping down with a thump. "Most importantly, why have you chosen to ignore the jedi problem. The resistance itself is not the issue, but with the jedi supporting them there will always be a threat to the First Order."

 

[Lucyfer]

Thankfully, the woman did not struggle further after hearing ‘Resistance’, and Poe let out a deep breath, relieved. He’d been right. She would be looking for that kind of help and support now. The situation she was in was…rough. To say the least. At least Poe could think with some certainty that she wasn’t his enemy right then. He couldn’t say that about all of the new recruits to the Resistance.

When she began to shake her head, he lowered his hand, but hesitantly. He was still afraid she might scream, or shout, and he was prepared to clamp down on that immediately.

She didn’t, though.

“Yeah, trust me, I wasn’t planning to stick around here,” Poe said. Not with Phasma on the warpath, anyway. He could come back. He’d gleaned a bit of information, anyway – something important was being worked on here, and details had been stolen. The First Order probably had back-ups, but it might go up for sale on the black market.

They needed to keep their eyes open.

He slowly relaxed his grip on her to let her go, and stepped back, fingers trailing a bit as he did, to assure himself she wouldn’t be running off towards Phasma. His eyes checked her form for such tension, “I got a ship. Come on with me,” he knew Leia wouldn’t be happy with him bringing back another stray, but his instincts were good.

After all, Finn was there because of him, and Finn was a damned hero of the Resistance now. This girl had no where else to go. “You don’t have to join but – sure a hell of a lot better than right here, right now, right? Oh, uh – I’m Poe Dameron.” He offered his hand out then, “Not the best moment for introductions, but you should probably know my name if you’re going to come along.”

He had so many rushed introductions under his belt now, and he knew this would be one, already preparing to close his hand around the woman’s if she agreed – already prepared to pull her along into a run as he could see through the alley how the Stormtroopers seemed to be getting restless about tearing up the home and finding nothing.

It would definitely be to their benefit to book it out of that area as soon as possible, and Poe knew how to weave his way back to the ship through the city.

~***~

There was a silence between the siblings – but it was loud to both of them as they walked towards a new room where there would be some privacy. It was spoken in small gestures, glances. Brendol Hux had raised them both to be killers, but they were meant to be mindless followers like the Stormtroopers. Unfortunately, the Cadet program had only made them fairly good at hiding their intentions, and playing the long game.

Armitage was losing his grip a bit, that much had been clear after Starkiller. It was clear in the way he went rigid when the door was slammed, and the glare he shot Kylo Ren for it, while Reveille kept her expression carefully collected, and listened as Kylo demanded his answers.

More, she watched.

What might have passed for disgust, did not, as soon as Kylo slunk into his chair. “Looks like you should still be in the medbay, Ren.” Armitage stated, never one to leave a wound alone – physical or otherwise. It was a literal sore point for the Commander to be weakened. “You’re clearly still compromised. You should have some faith in the Supreme Leader. If he thought the Jedi were as much a threat as you’re making them out to be, he would have done something about it.”

‘Again with the Supreme Leader.’ Reveille didn’t speak to that. Instead, she offered, “We have not forgotten, Commander. We followed the Resistance to their base on D’Qar. By the time we reached it, they had already abandoned it and destroyed everything. I had my agents look for clues, but nothing was found. We had no leads to follow them at the time, and pursuit would have meant giving up the opportunity to secure the Core Worlds. That is what we have done in your absence. We’ve secured the majority of the Core, though the Coruscant and Chandrila systems remain outside of our grasp. Once they fall, the rest of the galaxy will fall in line. We already have much of the Outer Rim.”

The Mid-Rim remained difficult, but it would fall in line.

“It won’t be long before those systems cave – Coruscant is loyal to us as it is,” a world that believed much as the First Order did, “It just happens to have an annoying minority that disagree.” It would be dealt with – soon. He knew Coruscant was the next world they planned to take. “We also know now that the Resistance has fled to Chandrila,” Armitage added, a smirk touching his lips, “the Rebel scum always go home, I suppose.” Chandrila had been a major planet in the Rebel Alliance. It was home of Mon Mothma, after all. Armitage was unaware it was also the world that Kylo was born on.

Reveille nodded, “The Scavenger and Luke Skywalker will surface eventually, unless Luke intends to leave his sister defenseless. We know where the Resistance is. We have spies in their ranks. We will know when Luke and the Scavenger surface, and we will relay that information to you.” He could go on a suicide mission to kill them if he wanted. Reveille did not see them as a great threat.

 

[ShiroKuma]

Acacia made a weak attempt at brushing off her baggy, dirty clothes. She hadn't expected to meet someone so high up in the resistance ranks. Especially not Poe Dameron. She had heard rumors about him. How he was handsome, but he was a little hot-headed. Not in the sense that he was an angry person, but he tended to go off and do things on his own. She hoped that he wasn't as difficult as the rumors made him seem. She finally brought herself to her feet fully and reached out to gently grab Poe's hand. She was still shaky so, her handshake was not very impressive.
"My name is Acacia Hunlan. We can acquaint ourselves more later and after that I'll decide if I want to join."

She looked back at her home now in flames and then shifted a determined gaze back to the masked man "We need to get off this planet before they find us. Obviously, I won't need to pack a bag"
She mustered a half smile at her poorly timed joke, but she wasn't entirely sure what else to do in this situation. it was either jokes or tears. She felt that the latter was a much less preferable option. "So, lead the way. For the time being, I will follow you where ever you go. I don't have anything better to do"

***
Kylo shot Armitage a threatening look. " I am perfectly fine. It would serve you well to keep your opinions on my health to yourself...if you know what is good for you." Kylo gave Armitage a rare and taunting smirk before he turned to Reveille. While he was severely disappointed with that lack of interest in the Jedi problem, it was clear that she had at least done something useful.

At that point, Kylo gave his undivided attention to the woman "While I am still not convinced this was the best course of action, I am impressed that you were able to achieve so much in such little time."

He paused for a moment his dark eyes locking with hers. He has relaxed, but he was sure he still looked intimidating. "Tell me, how to did you go about obtaining the planets. We have been trying for several years to get them under out control."
Kylo had a hard time believing something had changed so drastically that they were suddenly able to obtain so many planets, but he was curious. What had they done while he was gone and more importantly how could he use it to benefit himself. After letting the girl get away he was in hot water. People thought he was weak. He could not allow that to continue. He needed a way to bring him back to the top.
"What else do you have planned?" His questions were directed to Reveille from that point on. He no longer would acknowledge Armitage.

 

[Lucyfer]

“Acacia, huh?” Poe said as she introduced herself. He knew that was some sort of plant, though his mother would have known better which one. His mind drifted there only briefly, the recollection of his mother’s love of plants coming to mind with the name, before he gave a curt nod and smiled, even if it was covered by the mask, “Don’t worry, I’m not expecting anything here.”

Not even a proper introduction of how she and her family ended up in this mess. He was seemingly becoming the Resistance member who kept finding those in bad situations and getting them out of it, like with Finn. Hell, if that was going to be his role, he didn’t mind at all. The less harm the First Order could do, the better. “So let’s get—”

“Wait, over there! I think I saw some movement,” Poe caught a Stormtrooper who stupidly raised his voice to point over in the direction of their cover.

“Tch.” Poe’s grip on the woman’s hand intensified. “Hope you’re a good runner,” he said, and without any further warning, he whipped around and pulled her with him as he took off running. Perhaps the better idea would have been to try to stealthily get out of their view, and work their way into the crowd, rather than sprint and immediately draw attention, but Poe wasn’t thinking of such a thing.

He just knew they needed to get out of there, and quickly.

~***~

Armitage had bristled under the look shot his way, but his hackles lowered a bit as he observed Kylo picking to interact with Reveille, rather than himself. He couldn’t help but think Kylo was generally better behaved around Phasma, as well, and he idly wondered if Kylo had a weak spot. Given the Scavenger obsession, he was inclined to believe it, but he kept those words to himself.

Much as he kept a comment about a head injury to himself, though he could see Reveille thinking the same thing in the way her own brows lifted slightly at Kylo’s concluding query.

“Thanks to the efforts of the First Order in destroying the Hosnian System, we were met with little resistance in pushing in to the Core worlds,” Reveille answered. However much she hated Starkiller, she could not deny the opening it gave, “The majority of the New Republic fleet was stationed on Hosnian Prime. With their destruction, it was easy to sweep in and put down what resistance remained and take over.”

The next plans seemed obvious to her. At least, those plans which she could tell Kylo of, “The next steps of the First Order are to continue to secure the Core. The Resistance proper has holed themselves up on Chandrila. We’ve made no move yet on them – we are able to monitor their activities easier there. I do not want to send them scattering to the winds and lose sight of General Organa.”

And they were fairly insignificant, though she wouldn’t say that, either. “Once we have secured most of the Core, and determined all of General Organa’s allies through her radio broadcasts, we will move against the Resistance. At this time, we are concerned with occupation and restoring our own forces.”

 

[ShiroKuma]

Acacia was shocked by Poe's decision to just run out in front of the stormtroopers. They had blasters. It didn't matter how good of a runner she was. She twisted and turned her body to keep up with him and avoid being shot "Are you daft? Why the hell would you opt to run out right in front of the guys with the guns!" her voice cracked as she shouted at the man. After a few moments, she decided to rip her hand from his. It wasn't that the human contact was unwelcome at the moment. More so that she could run much easier when she wasn't being pulled.

Once her hand was free, she would have been able to out run Poe if she hadn't held herself back. "Follow me!" Acacia didn't look back to see if Poe decided to follow her. She didn't have time to. Every second wasted was a second that gave the storm troopers the chance to kill them. She twisted and turned around the metal buildings until she came to a large abandoned shack. She dove into the building and waited for Poe. Once he would enter the building she would try and find out where the ship was.

~~

Kylo used a gloved hand to rub his chin as he listened intently. He nodded on occasion to show that he wasn't just ignoring everything she said like he would often do with her brother. Once she finished he cleared his throat to ask more questions. He was greatly concerned with the fact that their numbers were dwindling. He had entirely forgotten about that. "How many troops have we lost?" He considered saying people at first, but he didn't really considered them people. They were just pawns to move. A mean to an end.

He dropped his hand and put pressure on his side once again. The pain was getting a little too intense for his liking "How do you plan to improve our numbers. Taking children won't be very useful anymore. They will certainly provide us cushion years down the line, but the obedience training alone would take too long."

Kylo personally liked the idea of taking the children and the fathers. That way they could manipulate the fathers into working for them in hopes of saving their kids, but obviously the first order would use the kids to their advantage. Many disagree with this idea.

 

[Lucyfer]

Poe didn’t answer. The obvious answer was because he had a head-start, and distance, not to mention the buildings in between him and the stormtroopers. They still had to follow through the alley and then figure out which way Poe turned, which he hoped would be difficult enough as he planned to dive down into another alley and weave his way around until he was all but lost.

Then he could get back to BB-8 and his X-Wing. In theory.

Instead, Acacia wrenched her hand out of his grip and took her own path through the city as a few shots rang out. Poe mentally shrugged, but followed her, figuring a native to the planet would know better how to avoid being found, and how to lose the Stormtroopers. Although, when he saw the building they came to, he felt doubt strike him.

Still, he followed after her, if only because he’d committed himself to doing so, “Hey, we need to keep moving!” He said, his whisper all but hissed in his anxiety. He didn’t want to stay still in a place that screamed out ‘look here’. He would have preferred to dive into an occupied house than an abandoned building.

Though he did duck down to try and avoid being seen through any windows, “They’re gonna search an abandoned building if they come across it, and I don’t think we lost them.” He didn’t hear them right then, but they would likely search through a few directions in the twisting and turning paths, and he was pretty sure more than a couple would bring them to this opening.

~***~

Reveille held up a single finger to request a moment as Kylo asked about numbers of troops. She didn’t have that memorized, but it was in her datapad, and she took that out of a side pocket to bring up the information. “Approximately 600,000,” she offered simply, flicking the datapad’s screen back off once the number was provided. It wasn't so bad. Many had been able to flee in time. It was less than the losses of the Death Star.

To his other question, “We have not been without allies, Kylo Ren. There are many on Coruscant who have supported us, and upon Arkanis, and other worlds. We have other militias built up across the galaxy, such as the one that was used years ago to help see to it that the New Republic’s senate never elected a First Senator.”

Carise Sindian had overseen much of that, making sure that the First Senator that was elected after Leia Organa was brought to shame across the galaxy for being a descendant of Darth Vader, was assassinated. After that, they never tried again, which meant they remained a bickering and unorganized group of inepts that the First Order could easily crush. “Adding these militias will assist, but there are others in the galaxy who don’t care who they serve, who have military training. Seeing as the New Republic is in no position to offer them any paying job or security, it’s only a matter of time before they flock to us. Naturally, we will begin to re-open old Imperial academies, and implement training regiments on the planets we take over, to begin training up others to join our ranks.”

She didn’t think any special kind of manipulation was necessary. Most really didn’t care – people just wanted a sense of security. If they did, they would have gone to join the Resistance, rather than remain so passive and let their worlds be overtaken.